No. 6 seed Nick Kyrgios put his best foot forward in a 7-5, 6-2 win over American Ryan Harrison at the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 on Tuesday. Harrison was coming into the match with confidence, having qualified for an ATP World Tour main draw for the eighth time this year. However, he had few answers for Kyrgios’s pace and succumbed in 80 minutes.

The Aussie enjoyed a stellar day on serve, firing 14 aces, landing 73 per cent of first serves and not facing a break point. Kyrgios’s comfort level on his delivery was such that he often followed up a first-serve miss with another flat bomb. The #NextGen star routinely topped 200km/h on his second serve and closed out the match with a 194km/h strike.

“My serve is obviously a big weapon. It gets me out of trouble when I’m not feeling so great and it’s always a part of my game that I can rely on to win matches,” Kyrgios said. “I just think that I can’t miss the same serve twice, so why not go after it on the second serve [too]?”

Czech veteran Radek Stepanek, a nine-time qualifier at ATP World Tour events this year, enjoyed a better fate than Harrison, beating Frenchman Stephane Robert 6-2, 6-1. If the 37 year old were to qualify for another main draw this year, he would move ahead of six other players for sole possession of the open-era record. Stepanek, Kyrgios’s second-round opponent, had also qualified for nine events back in 2002.

No. 5 seed David Goffin saw off Japanese #NextGen player Yoshihito Nishioka 7-5, 6-2 to set up a clash against Jiri Vesely, who beat Kevin Anderson 3-6, 6-0, 6-4. Goffin’s metronomic baseline tempo was too much for the left-handed wild card. The Belgian broke serve five times and sealed the win in one hour and 39 minutes.

Juan Monaco was a 7-6(2), 7-6(5) victor over American teenager Taylor Fritz. The Argentine broke with the #NextGen player serving for the first set at 5-4 and maintained his momentum to win in one hour and 47 minutes. Monaco held the big-serving Fritz to five aces while hitting seven untouchable serves of his own.

Thiago Monteiro has arguably established himself as the most improved player of the year, but he isn’t done creating new memories in 2016.

The 22 year old from Brazil is looking for his ATP Challenger Tour on home soil at the $40,000 ATP Challenger Tour in Campinas. Monteiro is the second seed and will play his opening match against fellow Brazilian Andre Ghem on Wednesday.

“I like to perform at home,” said Santos. “The energy of the people and their support is very good for me and I really do feel it in the tough matches.”

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After starting the year ranked No. 463 n the Emirates ATP Rankings, Monteiro is now inside the Top 100 at No. 90. In addition to winning the $100,000 ATP Challenger Tour event this May in Aix-en-Provence, France, Monteiro also reached ATP World Tour quarter-finals in February at the Brasil Open and in July at the J. Safra Sarasin Swiss Open.

Monteiro is also responsible for one of the biggest upsets of the season. As a wild card ranked No. 338, he shocked then-World No. 9 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga this February at the Rio Open presented by Claro.

“It’s been a fantastic year for me,” said Monteiro. “Reaching the Top 100 has been my dream ever since I was a kid. I had to work very hard with my team, but I’ve had some really good matches this year.”

Based on his run of form, it doesn’t appear those good matches will dry up anytime soon. But while he was initially surprised by his inspired tennis in 2016, it’s now something he has come to expect.

“I’d say this year has both matched and exceeded my expectations,” said Monteiro. “I didn’t expect to have the win over Tsonga or reach my first ATP World Tour quarter-final. But after that, I started to believe in my game more and work harder. That gave me a lot of motivation and now I’m starting to consistently have these good results.” 

Before July, you had two career Challenger quarter-finals. Now you have three Challenger titles. What does this mean about the progression you’ve made?

I’m very stoked. Me and [coach and brother] Chris, we go pretty hard on court and in the gym. I’ve been doing two-a-days and it’s now showing on court. I’m much stronger, much fitter, much faster. I’m now trying to believe in my game and it’s working, so I’m going to stick to it and hopefully keep progressing.

I always talk about knowing who you are, knowing what you can and can’t do on a tennis court. How has getting a better understanding of who you are as a tennis player impacted your game?

I think it’s a big deal. You have to know who you are. I’m not the strongest or biggest guy on the court, but I use my smarts. Me and Chris look at the players before, come up with a game plan and try to stick to it. If it’s not working, we try to maneuver around it. Sometimes I get frustrated in matches, but I still stick to the plan.

At 2-4 in the first set of the final, [Michael Mmoh] gave away two points. Did that signify anything for you, that he walked off for two points and that maybe he’s a little more tired than you are?

The first two games weren’t easy. We were having at least 10-ball rallies and using our legs to try and get the ball deep. My thing was to keep him out there because he came through the qualifying and played tough players all through in the main draw. Even if I went down, I was going down with a game plan. I’m glad it worked.

How do you get from where you are now into the Top 100 and into the main draw of major tournaments?

For me, it’s belief. A major problem for me before was doubting myself. Chris is getting me to go for my first serve more. My game is to mix it up, but you have to have a weapon when you get to the bigger guys. I know I’m going to be very tough to beat when I gradually get there.

Three straight weeks here in Northern California and then Las Vegas as well. What are you hoping to do in Stockton?

Just rest up. I’m playing Sekou Bangoura in the first round. He’s one of my good friends, but we won’t be friends on the court. I’m really looking to end this year well. My goal was to end the year in the Top 150 [of the Emirates ATP Rankings], but I guess I already surpassed that, so now I’m looking for something new.

How will you celebrate?

Just relax and have a good dinner for the host family that hosted me. Maybe take the day off, spend it with them and thank them for hosting me.

Pablo Carreno Busta and Rafael Nadal reached the China Open quarter-finals on Monday in Beijing as they upset third seeds Rohan Bopanna and Daniel Nestor 7-6(3), 6-4 in the first round.

The Spaniards have both enjoyed great success on the doubles court in 2016. Nadal partnered Marc Lopez to the gold medal at the Rio Olympics, while Carreno Busta was runner-up at the US Open with Guillermo Garcia-Lopez and also reached the final last week in Chengdu, with Mariusz Fyrstenberg (l. to Klaasen/Ram).

Nadal and Carreno Busta go on to face Chinese wild card pairing Mao-Xin Gong and Ze Zhang, who upset Americans Steve Johnson and Sam Querrey 3-6, 6-3, 10-4.

Paolo Lorenzi and Guido Pella dealt a blow to Treat Huey and Max Mirnyi’s Barclays ATP World Tour Finals hopes, upsetting the fourth seeds 3-6, 6-1, 10-4. Huey and Mirnyi are looking to qualify for the season finale together for the first time and are currently seventh in the Emirates ATP Doubles Race To London. But they have now suffered three successive first-round losses. They also fell at the US Open (l. to Almagro/Estrella-Burgos) and last week in Shenzhen (l. to Fognini/Lindstedt).

In the quarter-finals Lorenzi and Pella will face Jack Sock and Bernard Tomic, who teamed up for a 3-6, 7-5, 10-7 victory over wild cards Andre Begemann and Leander Paes.

In his first singles match since the US Open semi-finals, Kei Nishikori withstood an impressive performance by Donald Young to prevail 4-6, 6-2, 6-2 in the first round of the Rakuten Japan Open Tennis Championships 2016 on Monday.

The 26-year-old Nishikori is looking to win this ATP World Tour 500 hard-court tournament in Tokyo for the third time this week, following victories in 2012 and 2014, defeating Milos Raonic both times. A good run for the right-hander would also stand him in good stead in the Emirates ATP Race To London. Nishikori is currently fifth in the year-to-date standings, with the Top 8 at the end of the regular season qualifying for the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals.

There was almost a significant setback for Nishikori, though, as Young, a late substitution for an ailing Nicolas Almagro, came close to pulling off an upset against the top seed. The American left-hander played an assertive brand of baseline tennis, not unlike that of his opponent. Using his whippy forehand to good effect, Young saved two break points at 4-4, then shocked the partisan crowd by breaking through on the final point of the opening set.

“I wasn’t hitting enough topspin, and he was playing well. He was in the mood to attack and to come in, and he made all his shots,” Nishikori said. “It’s been a while since I played singles, so I needed some time to get back into the rhythm.”

Despite the setback, Nishikori did not flinch. He showed his mental strength and raced to a 5-1 lead in the second set by playing fearless attacking tennis. With the match level, Nishikori did not let up. The Japanese superstar did not face a break point in the deciding set and served out the match at love to improve to 18-6 in Tokyo.

“He slowed down a little bit and I started to step in and to use my forehand more. I played good tennis in the last two sets,” Nishikori said.

Awaiting Nishikori in the second round is Joao Sousa, who also prevailed against a tricky left-hander after dropping the first set. The Portuguese No. 1 won 4-6, 6-3, 6-3 against Slovakian Martin Klizan. The two players will be meeting for the first time at tour-level.